When we stop looking inward, we start to see who’s really in the boat with us. Boat is a powerful middle school vignette play about empathy, connection, and realizing we’ve never been alone. Click to learn more!

betweenity

by Lindsay Price

We’ve all been there. The awkward pause. The silence where you just can’t think of something to say. The space in-between words where nothing is said and yet so much is spoken. The state of being between.

This vignette play explores the beats, pauses, and never-ending silences in conversation. The girl who tries to tell her best friend she wants to date him. The boy who creates the wrong kind of pause. The sister who is dealing with the silent treatment. The guy who wants to confess but can’t open his mouth. The daughter who doesn’t want to talk because talking makes her remember.

An excellent class project play with parts for everyone at all levels with a great technique exploration. How do you act in a pause?

Comedy Choral Work Vignettes

Average Producer Rating:

This is a vignette play!

Recommended for High Schools and Middle Schools

Running Time

About 30 minutes

Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes

Cast

12 Characters

4 M | 4 F | 4 Any Gender, Easily Expandable

Set

Simple Set

Length

29 pages

Production Tips

Read production tips for this play

Free Excerpt

Classroom Study Guide

Download a free Classroom Study Guide

What to order?

Not sure what you need to order? Check out our pricing and ordering guide.

Performance Royalty Fees

Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.

Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.

12 Characters
4 M, 4 F, 4 Any Gender, Easily Expandable

Characters in this play are currently identified as male or female. Directors are welcome to assign any gender (binary or non-binary) to any character and modify pronouns accordingly.

Gap [F] 35 lines

itch [F] 40 lines

pace [F] 74 lines

tay [F] 22 lines

Breath [M] 46 lines

Still [M] 17 lines

Freeze [M] 36 lines

Thick [M] 22 lines

Beat [A] 59 lines

Hold [A] 14 lines

Rest [A] 9 lines

Pause [A] 8 lines

Praise for betweenity

Rebecca Alosi

International School of Tianjin

This play was a great challenge for my students who do not enjoy uncomfortable silences. We also experimented with outdoor performances, using different parts of the school play areas for different scenes. This was highly effective, creating a traveling performance for the audience to follow.

Lisa Brown

McKenzie Highlands School - Calgary Board of Education

My students enjoyed putting this play on. There is lots of opportunity to expand the cast, or cut it down. It was also easy to have a student director take small groups of actors to work while I worked with another group.